2022–23 Premier League

2022–23 Premier League
The 2022–23 Premier League was the 31st season of the Premier League and the 124th season of top-flight English football overall. Fulham, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest were the three promoted clubs from the 2021–22 EFL Championship, replacing Burnley, Watford and Norwich City.
Following Arsenal's defeat to Nottingham Forest on 20 May, Manchester City officially secured a third consecutive Premier League title with three games to spare, becoming the second club after local rivals Manchester United to achieve the feat in the Premier League era. It was their ninth English title overall and their seventh since 1992. The league title was the first leg in a treble-winning season for City, as they would later go on to win the FA Cup and UEFA Champions League, a feat which United had also achieved. Meanwhile, Arsenal broke the record of spending the greatest number of days, with 248, on top of the league in a top flight season without winning the title in English top flight history.
This season was also the first since 2017–18, and only the fourth Premier League season overall, where all three promoted teams at the start of the season avoided relegation. This was also the first time since 2014–15 that the team 20th at Christmas (Wolverhampton Wanderers), managed to avoid relegation.
The 2022–23 season was the highest-scoring 38-game season in Premier League history, with 1,084 goals (with a 2.85 goals per match ratio, the best in the history of Premier League). Erling Haaland broke the Premier League record for most goals scored by a player in one season with 36 goals.
It was also the second Premier League season in a row where over 15 millions fans attended matches and with total of 15,289,340 spectators a new competition record was set.
Season summary
The season began with Arsenal going on a five-game unbeaten streak before they played Manchester United at Old Trafford where they lost 3–1. Manchester City got off to a strong start, having signed striker Erling Haaland; they went on a nine-game unbeaten run before losing at Liverpool in October. Arsenal were top of the table for much of the season, with a five point lead over Manchester City in March. However, a run of three consecutive draws allowed City to cut their lead, and a 4–1 victory at the Etihad Stadium allowed them to take control. Arsenal's 1–0 defeat away at Nottingham Forest confirmed the league title for Manchester City on 20 May 2023. Manchester City were presented with the Premier League trophy on 21 May 2023.
Despite losing their first two games of the season, Manchester United returned to the Champions League in Erik ten Hag's debut season as the club's manager, in addition to winning the Carabao Cup. Newcastle United qualified for the Champions League for the first time in 20 years, their highest finish since Sir Bobby Robson was the club's manager. Despite a 7–0 victory over Manchester United, as well as a 9–0 victory over Bournemouth, Liverpool endured a difficult season and finished 5th, missing Champions League qualification for the first time since 2015–16.
Despite spending over £600m on new transfers under new ownership led by Todd Boehly, Chelsea had one of their worst Premier League seasons to date, with the Blues finishing in the bottom half of the table after first sacking Thomas Tuchel in September, and then sacking his successor Graham Potter the following April, after only seven months in charge. Frank Lampard returned to the club as interim manager, having previously been sacked himself in January 2021, but the team fared no better under his stewardship either. They ended up finishing 12th, their lowest league finish since 1993–94, and had accumulated just 44 points – their lowest ever in a Premier League season.
Brighton & Hove Albion lost manager Potter to Chelsea in September, but his successor Roberto De Zerbi led the club to a club record finish of 6th, and qualified for the Europa League, the first European qualification in the history of the club.
Aston Villa secured qualification for European football for the first time since 2009–10; an indifferent start to the season saw the departure of manager Steven Gerrard, but his successor Unai Emery, along with in-form striker Ollie Watkins, saw Villa climb the table in the second half of the season to finish 7th and qualify for the Europa Conference League. Tottenham Hotspur had an erratic season, with manager Antonio Conte departing by mutual consent in March, days after publicly criticising the team in a post-match press conference. He was initially replaced by his assistant Cristian Stellini until the end of the season, but a poor run, culminating in a 6–1 defeat away to Newcastle, where the team were 5–0 down after just 20 minutes, saw him sacked and replaced by Ryan Mason as caretaker manager. Tottenham ended up finishing 8th, failing to qualify for European football for the first time since 2008–09, and finishing below rivals Arsenal in the league for the first time since 2015–16.
Brentford enjoyed one of the best seasons in their history, at one point going on a 12-match unbeaten run. During the season, they beat Manchester United, Manchester City (twice), and Liverpool. Their 9th place finish marked their highest-ever finish in top-flight football.
Bournemouth, who were tipped for relegation at the start of the season (particularly after they lost 9–0 to Liverpool at Anfield at the end of August, which saw manager Scott Parker sacked soon after), confounded the critics by avoiding relegation, with Gary O'Neil, first as interim, then permanent manager, guiding the team to safety. Nottingham Forest broke the record for most signings in a Premier League season with 21, and a late run of home victories over Brighton, Southampton and Arsenal secured safety. The final newly promoted side, Fulham, enjoyed a successful return to the top flight with a 10th place finish.
Southampton were the first team relegated on 13 May, finishing 20th after eleven consecutive years in the top flight. Going into the final day of the season, two relegation places were still to be confirmed, with Everton, Leeds United & Leicester City all potentially at threat of relegation. Leeds failed to repeat their last day escape of the previous season and were also relegated after three years back in the top flight, having lost 4–1 at home to Tottenham Hotspur. Everton escaped relegation by winning 1–0 against Bournemouth, extending their top flight stay to seventy consecutive years for next season. The result meant that despite a 2–1 victory at home over West Ham United, Leicester would be relegated, after a nine year stay in the division, and only seven years after being crowned champions, becoming only the second team after Blackburn Rovers to be relegated as a previous Premier League title winning team.
Developments
Starting from the 2022–23 season, clubs are able to make five substitutions rather than three. These substitutions can be made in three stoppages during game time, and additionally at half time, in line with other top European leagues – Serie A, La Liga, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga.
There was a mid-season break for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, with the last matches before the hiatus played on the weekend of 12–13 November 2022 and the first matches after the World Cup played on 26 December 2022, after the World Cup final on 18 December 2022.
On 9 September 2022, all Premier League matches scheduled for 10–12 September were postponed as a mark of respect due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The following week, three Premier League matches scheduled for 17–18 September were postponed due to the policing issues surrounding Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral on 19 September. Also, in the same week, the Arsenal game against Manchester City, scheduled for 19 October, was postponed to accommodate Arsenal's Europa League tie with PSV Eindhoven, which was itself postponed from 15 September to 20 October.
Teams
Twenty teams competed in the league – the top seventeen teams from the previous season and the three teams promoted from the Championship. The promoted teams were Fulham, Bournemouth, and Nottingham Forest, who returned after an absence of one, two and twenty-three years from the top flight respectively. The twenty-three years between Nottingham Forest's previous Premier League season and this season is the longest absence for a previous Premier League club in the Premier League era to date. They replaced Burnley (relegated to the Championship after a six-year top flight spell), Watford, and Norwich City (both teams relegated after just one year back in the top flight).
Stadiums and locations
Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.
Personnel and kits
Nottingham Forest played without a shirt sponsor until 1 January 2023, when the club announced UNHCR as their shirt sponsor for the remainder of the season.
Managerial changes
This season saw a record number of managerial changes, including 14 sackings.
League table
Results
The fixtures were released on 16 June 2022.
Season statistics
Top scorers
Hat-tricks
Top assists
Clean sheets
Discipline
Player
Most yellow cards: 14
João Palhinha (Fulham)
Most red cards: 2
Casemiro (Manchester United)
Club
Most yellow cards: 84
Leeds United
Nottingham Forest
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Fewest yellow cards: 44
Manchester City
West Ham United
Most red cards: 6
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Fewest red cards: 0
Six teams
Awards
Monthly awards
Annual awards
Notes
References
Premier League seasons
1
England